Chapter 189 Can't Escape.

The crimson blade headed for B3's head but was met with an invisible barrier, bouncing off of it with enough force to send Atropos' whole body flying a few meters back.

The dark haired Olympian flipped midair and landed gracefully on her feet. She flashed a smile at the three Valkyries before her figure became a blur, but despite her speed they were able to follow her movements with ease.

Sitta followed the enemy leader with her eyes preparing to create a barrier at any moment. The obvious option should've been to keep one constantly activated around her and her allies, however it was a difficult task even for the barrier specialist Sitta since she had to keep the other Olympians in mind as well.

Atropos didn't bother helping her allies escape the blue box that was trying to crush them, but the Valkyrie doubted that she would allow them to die just like that.

B3 deactivated the lightning effect and retracted her drones, noticing how Atropos accelerated even further, teleporting every now and then to throw the Valkyries off her tracks.

Still it was easy to guess who she was targeting next, that's why when she teleported behind Sitta one of the cylindrical drones fell from the sky almost crashing her.

The pace of the battle shifted from there on. Each time Atropos tried to take a step, one of the drones would come down crashing into the spot she was standing on forcing her to teleport and reducing her momentum.

Even though things were shifting in their favor, B3 began to feel that something was off. Not long after she realized that the craters left by her cylindrical drones were getting farther and farther away giving her a hint on what her opponent was planning.

'So that's how it is…'

B3 smiled under her helmet and played along with the Olympian's plan. As far as she knew, Valkyries never had a fight among each other. Even if they bickered from time to time they're usually on good terms. Nino was known for having a bit of a sharp tongue. Sometimes she would say offensive things intentionally provoking the others, but most became used to it after a while so it never caused that big of a problem.

Now that she was facing someone with her exact face B3 couldn't help but wonder what would happen if one of the arguments she had with the Japanese doll escalated. One thing she knew for sure was that she would've never held back against Nino, that's why she decided to go all out for this fight as well.

~[]~

"So, what's your name?" The caucasian man asked in a friendly tone. "They call me Hylas, by the way."

The young man smiled, making his already handsome face more appealing. Sadly his looks wouldn't be of much use against the Valkyries, especially JX9 who was still seething with anger after coming face to face with the Calamities.

[Say, where did you get those things?] She asked, restraining the anger burning inside her.

"Answering a question with another question?" Hylas said, pushing his long sword against the Valkyrie's rifle. "That's not very appro-"I think you should take a look at

Air was knocked out of his lungs having received a devastating blow to his stomach. JX9 didn't hold back in that kick sending the young man flying like a soccer ball.

Somehow managing to kill the momentum of his fall, Hylas flipped his body and regained his balance. His body was wrapped in a thin force field however it wasn't enough to completely negate a blow from such a short range.

"You sure have no mercy…" he said, holding a hand to his stomach as blood began dripping from his smiling mouth.

[I asked you a question.]

JX9 tossed her rifle aside. As the weapon turned into particles of light and disappeared, small purple squares began flickering into existence around her arms creating what looked like large mechanical gloves.

[Where did you get the drones?]

Even though he sensed the anger in her voice, Hylas did his best to remain calm. His body soon healed itself and he grasped his weapon in both hands preparing for the long battle.

"Ah, those things?" He said, carefully watching his opponent's reaction. "Daedalus found a couple in the castle and decided to mass-produce them. We thought we could make use of them but…"

[I see…] Slamming her fists together, JX9 prepared to resume the fight. [That's all I need to hear.]

The purple armor disappeared from his sight prompting Hylas to raise his sword to block. Just as he did it appeared again right in front of him with a giant fist raised in preparation to strike. There was no faint, no deception. The punch was simple and straightforward, however the power it carried rattled the bones inside his body causing his vision to blur for a moment.

Joining her hands JX9 brought them down on the caucasian man. He tried to block the attack with his sword once more but was sent hurling down to the burning forest. The Valkyrie was about to follow after him only to notice that he had disappeared. Spining around she dodged a downward swing from his blade and punched at his face but struck empty air.

Looking ahead she saw the man a distance away. His smile didn't seem to falter, but his pale visage and the sweat beading his forehead told JX9 that he was having a lot more trouble than her. Noticing a spark somewhere in the forest she raised her arm. A bullet bounced off her gauntlet the next moment, and when she looked back at the caucasian man she realized that he had disappeared.

[Your tricks are getting old.] She said before teleporting herself.

Hylas' sword cut through the spot she was in and before he could register what was happening his head was grabbed by the giant metallic hand.

[Now you can't escape.] She said, the mechanical glove making creaking sounds as she clenched her fist preparing to strike.